


Nothing unusual

by Ikyo



Category: Metal Gear
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-11-15
Updated: 2015-11-15
Packaged: 2018-05-01 19:48:21
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,274
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5218562
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Ikyo/pseuds/Ikyo
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>A very short story about Catherine Miller and her weird dad.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Nothing unusual

It was not unusual for her father to call in the middle of the night, and while he hardly ever exchanged more than a few words with her, he always made it clear that he would soon appear at her doorstep. Either completely drunk or in such a bad mood that he would remain silent the rest of the day. And despite this being routine, Catherine always was nervous when he announced his imminent arrival.  
Was the apartment in presentable condition?  The air fresh enough? Had she stored enough ingredients to cook for his spontaneous desires? Was the bed, in which he would later fall into a coma-like sleep, properly made? But in addition to these thoughts, she also wondered why he wanted to sleep at her place again instead of his own apartment. She kinda knew the answer. But she hated to think about it.   
Catherine rubbed her hands on the lukewarm cup of stale coffee to wake up her clammy fingers a bit. Her father hated the smell of coffee for some reasons, which is why she would not brew a new pot at least as long as he still was awake. So she just contented herself with this old brew. With a soft sigh, she threw a jacket over her shoulders and peered out the window. If Kazuhira really was as drunk as she expecting him to be, she would perhaps need to pick him up from the streets and escort him back to her flat. While she bent her toes inside the slippers and scratched the felt with her nails, she tried to suppress the thought of her father being plagued by nightmares again. How he was driven into a bar instead of a comfortable bed to rest. Thinking about how he worked onhis bionic arm until it hurt so much that he could only numb the inner and outer pain with alcohol anymore.

She hated to see the strong man suffer like this and yet she knew that, if anything, the only way she was able to help her father was to prepare a shelter he was able to sober up in.  
"Where are you, you idiot?" she murmured. Only a moment later, the doorbell finally rang. Walking briskly, but as quietly as she was able to, Catherine went to the intercom and turned it on. What she saw was rather unexpected. Her father, whose eyes were even now, late at night, hidden by dark sunglasses, was apparently completely sober. It was quite in contrast to the young guy at his side, or rather the completely drunken man who was only kept on his feet by Kazuhira.  
"Dad?"  
"Pardon?" he answered, clearly showing dissatisfaction.  
Catherine cleared her throat. Really, even in this situation? Pushing her confusion aside, the young woman searched for the last password combination she and her father had agreed to. Her head was dull.  
"In order to scare a French beauty away, what year would you choose a wine from?"  
"1972." He was so calm it was nearly absurd considering that a semi comatose stranger hung by his side. Relieved nevertheless, Catherine activated the doorknob and let them come inside. The smell that struck her outside the door was disgusting and she wrinkled her nose. Vomit. Sweat. Alcohol. Lots. She squinted when she saw her father and his guest get out of the elevator and suddenly she recognized the other person.  
"David?" She let the jacket fall and immediately ran to support the drunks from the other side. "What happened?"  
Kaz said nothing as he took the way to the apartment as quickly as possible. His daughter forced herself to swallow down surging questions even if she gave him an angry look, which he completely ignored.  
By the time they had laid David down on the sofa and Catherine had brought warm water, soap and a couple of towels, it was already 4 o’clock in the morning. David was snoring in a pretty unhealthy way. It sounded as if he could hardly breathe, and he even gave a painful moan now and then. Nevertheless, Catherine did not interrupt the procedure to ask her questions now. She watched as her father freed the young soldier of his shoes, pulled away the smelly shirt, and started to clean Dave’s upper body of the residue of this night of drinking. David’s strong body was covered in scars and freshly stitched up wounds. Catherine sighed and turned away. Ever since her early childhood she had been confronted by suffering and war. But her father had also taught her to establish a kind of mental barrier through which she was able to deal with injuries,while still remaining calm. Only this technique had given her the chance to live a normal life. Catherine knew that and was grateful. Slowly, she left the living room and looked for some old garments her ex-husband had left.

What had happened to David to make him let himself go like this? He had always been an exceptionally disciplined young man and Catherine had never seen him drink. For a moment, she wondered if her father had dragged him into something, but then she reminded herself that this boy had always been the most important person to her father. She had learned this very early in her life, even if he had always tried to hide it.  
With a soft sigh, she came back and suddenly found herself in a room with two naked men. While she had often seen her father very carelessly running around naked, the sight of a bare Dave made her blush.  
"Dad...I...have no underwear... for him," she growled, the clothes into Kaz’s arms.  
Kaz shrugged. "That's fine, he prefers to sleep naked anyway." Catherine blinked, trying to imagine why he knew this consideredit important enough to inform her about it right now.  
"Would you still be so kind as to dress him again, please? I think it would be awkward if he wakes up naked." Her voice was impatient and she searched for upcoming anger in the hard face of her father. But she found nothing but buried sadness. When she briefly touched his shoulder, Kaz did not even flinch, but gave her the fakest smile that she had ever seen on his lips. And it chilled her to the bone. He was trying to reassure her, and that was the worst thing ever.  
"Alright. I'll dress him. Go to sleep, I'm going to work a little longer. "  
The young woman swallowed hard, her gaze wandering over every nook and wrinkle of his face, her mind fumbling to remember everything she had once learned about micro facial expressions. But despite the clear falsity of her father’s grin, it did not miss the effect he had probably aimed for: to mask his emotions completely.  
What had happened tonight? What had these brought these two men into such a situation, and what secret bound them right now?  
David moaned pitifully and tore Catherine from her thoughts.  
"... Horn..." he whispered hoarsely and began to squirm. Kaz had just put on one of the pairs of pants and pressed Dave seemingly carelessly back onto the sofa to calm him down. Then he shook a T-shirt loose and put it over the brown-haired head below him. With little effort, he then pulled the twitching arms of his protégé through the sleeves. Catherine gave up. She would not get any information out of her father tonight, so she did not want to put any further energy into the attempt.  
"Good night," she finally muttered and left the two. She tried to trust them. Trust.

 

TBC


End file.
